DHAKA, April 24, 2019 (BSS)- Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal believed that his decision to opt out of playing Dhaka Premier League (DPL) was helpful for him fresh as far as his physical fitness is concerned.
Physical fitness will be key in thriving in the condition in Ireland and England which will host tri-nation series and ICC Cricket World Cup, according to Tamim.
He said that he reached the goal, for which he kept him out of the DPL, stating that in the meantime he got enough opportunity to work on his fitness.
Tamim though had ordinary ODI series in New Zealand, he got back with bang in the Test series and played some good knocks despite his side tasted two humiliating defeats in two Test matches. Thereafter Tamim , along with Mushfiqur Rahim decided to opt out DPL in a bid to work on the fitness intensively.
“I am quite satisfied. I concentrated more on my fitness rather than my batting,” Tamim said here today. “I set up a goal and I missed Dhaka league to reach that goal. I think I reached my goal now.”
As he got freshened up now, Tamim hopes to do well in tri-nation series in Ireland, a series which is considered as Tigers’ best preparation for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup.
“Probably we will face a totally different type of weather from ours. One thing we are doing is that, we are doing the hard work here because the hard working parts like running ,batting ,fielding and exercising will be very difficult in that condition,” he said.
“We are doing all the hard works here so I think when we will go there at least it will help our physical fitness. So, I think these are the times where we put the hard work. And everyone is trying on their own, that’s the thing and we also have two-three days practice session left.”
Tamim believed that considering the format of the World Cup in which they would have to play nine matches, they need to rotate the players well to keep them refreshed. It’s one of the reasons which also prompted Tamim to put extra work on fitness.
“There is only one negative point that he have to play 13 to 14 matches within one and half months, that is the only negative point (including Tri-nation series and World Cup). Rather than that I don’t see any negative point here,” he said.
“Since we don’t get much opportunity to play in English conditions, I think the key will be to rest people whenever they need them. Because we all know that in world cup we cannot afford to rest. We will have 5 matches in Ireland so it will be very important to rotate the squad to keep everyone fresh.”